Groom-to-be Eric Pietryga and his friends were camping in Elephant Butte Lake, New Mexico, last week, when they discovered how much fun an alternative stag night can be — emphasis on discover. During their getaway, they stumbled across the fossilized tusks of a prehistoric beast that had died 3 million years earlier.

"As we were walking we saw a bone sticking out about one or two inches from the ground," party attendee Antonio Gradillas tells ABC News. The friends dug around the bones, took some photos, and then phoned a friend who directed him to Gary Morgan, a paleontologist with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

Morgan's verdict? The party had uncovered a stegomastodon, which resembled modern elephants, but stood about nine feet tall and weighed more than six tons. Morgan and his team determined that it was the most complete stegomastodon skull ever found in New Mexico.

It was an important moment for the scientists, but the bachelor party revelers were pretty impressed, as well. "This is the coolest thing ever," Gradillas tells ABC News. "Some people with Ph.D.s in this field might not even have this kind of opportunity. We were so lucky."

Talk about giving a whole new meaning to the phrase "crazy bachelor party!"